Bruker BioSpin’s Icon scanner, introduced in September, provides a smaller, lower-cost system for MRI scanning for research. The Icon expands Bruker’s high-field preclinical and molecular MRI product line, which previously ranged from 4.7 to 17 T field strength, to lower-field (1 T) permanent-magnet benchtop MRI systems, said Director of Marketing Communications Thorsten Thiel. It is often preferred to conduct contrast agent research at a magnetic field strength close to what is used in clinical MRI, and the Icon is closer to that strength than other higher field preclinical systems.

The Icon is easier to use than its predecessors, Dr. Thiel told IBO, because of its very small footprint and zero magnetic fringe field, which allows it to be safely used in any facility and by any operator. The new entry-level system also is more affordable and comes with negligible running costs, he said. The Icon is priced below $500,000.

The Icon delivers less sensitivity, causing limitations in acquisition speed and spatial resolution. It does not support the investigation of small rodents in vivo with microscopic resolution down to the cellular level, but is still capable of achieving in-plane resolutions of less than 100 µm.

“The contrast behavior can improve at higher magnetic fields, such as functional MRI,” Dr. Thiel said. “These applications drive high fields, but there are also contrast mechanisms that work even better at lower magnetic fields, like routine T1 imaging.”